Originally posted by diori
loosen the fuck up...

Originally posted by TypeSAddict
I think it was a poor marketing decision by jag, but people still need to get their panties unbunched.

Ford could be ready to inject another $935 million in its Jaguar unit as the British brand tries to push itself into the black. Reports from the Sunday Times of London indicate Ford will put the money into the carmaker despite a loss of $1.1 billion in 2003. The paper's source inside Jaguar says that the timing and method of recapitalizing Jaguar has yet to be decided. The paper also reiterates reports that Jaguar is now considering the assembly of vehicles in theU.S. to take advantage of currency differences. Ford officials have denied such a plan exists.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Jaguar has cut production so it can reduce incentives, particularly in the United States.

"We want profitable sales and have moved away from incentive-driven strategies," Joe Greenwell, CEO of Jaguar-Land Rover told the Automotive News Europe Congress this month.

Jaguar production dropped 22.8 percent to 27,139 units in the first quarter compared with the year-ago period. Greenwell said thinning its stock of unsold cars will allow the British brand to move away from discounting.

Jaguar has abandoned its goal of making 200,000 cars a year. Last year it produced 118,000 cars. Greenwell declined to reveal 2005 volume, saying only that it would be substantially less than in 2004.

Greenwell said the first-quarter drop in production is in line with Jaguar's recovery plan, which includes the closing of its Browns Lane assembly plant in Coventry, England. The plant will stop production in September.

Jaguar, which is part of Ford Motor Co.'s Premier Automotive Group, has lost an estimated $1.5 billion in the past three years.

"It is our mission to remove the burden, but it is not a quick fix," Greenwell said. "I don't expect Jaguar to break even before 2007."

Jaguar dealers across Europe want the British automaker to stay in North American or European hands if parent Ford Motor decides to sell the brand.

Some dealers said they would prefer Renault-Nissan if they were aksed to pick a future partner. Many fear the possibility of Jaguar being bought by a Chinese manufacturer, even though no Chinese party officially has expressed an interest in the company.

“I am scared to death of seeing Jaguar end up in Chinese hands,” said Franco Santi, a Jaguar and Aston Martin dealer in Rome since 1967.

Last year Santi sold 400 new Jaguars. He sold 500 in his best years.

“Renault looks to be the best potential deal,” he said.

Wolfgang Wienbrügge, a store manager at Jaguar Kreuzer in Saarbrücken, Germany, said he wants Jaguar to stay in the Ford family.

“We’d prefer to stay with Ford rather than being sold to some private investors or a Chinese carmaker,” he said. “If that happens, it would be even harder to communicate the ‘premium’ spirit.”

Last Thursday, Ford said it is considering selling all or part of its Aston Martin British luxury sports car brand as part of a strategic review of its business. The review has created speculation that Ford also may sell its Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which, like Aston Martin, are part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group.

PAG reported a pre-tax loss of $162 million (about €126 million) for the second quarter, compared with a pre-tax profit of $17 million for the same period last year.

A private equity group has had preliminary discussions with Ford about the possible sale of the automaker’s European brands, media reports say. Former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser is a partner in that company.

British construction machinery group JCB said last month that it is interested in acquiring Jaguar, but only if it is split from Land Rover.

Jaguar dealers told Automotive News Europe that the rumors hurt business.

“Every distraction has negative effects on the image and that means negative effects for the dealers,” said Manfred Hauswirth, spokesman for the German Jaguar Dealer Association.

Robert Macnab, a research director at Trendtracker, a UK-based auto analysis firm that covers retail and dealer issues, agrees that the sale speculation is bad for Jaguar.

“The retail and consumer side has not been particularly affected, but there may have been some impact on dealer morale,” Macnab said.

Hauswirth said Jaguar dealers are worried about what would motivate a potential Jaguar buyer.

“It would pose a threat to the brand when someone buys Jaguar only for strategic reasons, then only to have the brand sell [a Chinese brand such as] Landwind,” Hauswirth said. “We need a buyer who wants to keep Jaguar as a premium brand.”

Jaguar has cost Ford in excess of $10 billion since it acquired the brand in 1989. It’s still not profitable and it continues to restructure.

Dealers are preparing for change.

Said dealer Wienbrügge: “I’ve already tried to book a Chinese language course.”

Luca Ciferri, Matthias Karpstein, Tony Lewin, Sylviane de Saint-Seine contributed

Jaguar is reinventing itself in the U.S. Always carrying a slightly caddish, dastardly image, the British automaker's Good To Be Bad campaign is now spilling into its interactions with other automakers.

First there was the sly shot at Mercedes-Benz and its Active Ride Control. Now, it's taken a pop at Maserati and its Ghibli sedan. Spotted by Top Speed, the opening salvo was fired on the firm's Twitter feed, when it stated, "Did you know that #ghibli means hot air? Seems appropriate", before copying Maserati's feed into the tweet and ending with the now-familiar #GoodToBeBad hashtag. Never has the term "meow" been more appropriate a response...

Maserati's long-held Ghibli name is indeed hot air, more specifically a hot, dust-carrying desert wind in North Africa. It remains to be seen how Maserati will reply--though Mercedes took Jaguar's shots in good humor, hinting that cats aren't quite as responsive as Jaguar might like to think in a follow-up advert. Of course, Maserati may not care--following its Super Bowl campaign, Kelly Blue Book revealed that the company's online interest rose 700 percent--next to Jaguar's 224 percent.

Given Jaguar's alphabetic naming scheme, Maserati will have to work a little harder to rip on Jaguar's products. What would you come up with?

Most of us wish we had the money and space for a huge collection of classic and vintage cars, but if you're a major automaker such a collection is much easier to amass. Easier still if, like Jaguar Land Rover, you buy someone else's existing collection of 543 vehicles. Said vehicles belonged to British enthusiast James Hull, but the vast reserve of vehicles, including dozens of rare Jaguar models, is now in the hands of the automaker itself. Prior to the sale, Hull's collection was believed to be the biggest privately-owned roster of classic British cars anywhere in the world.

The list of vehicles is enormous. Among those mentioned, the new acquisition includes everything from early Swallow Sidecars and Swallow coachbuilt Austin Sevens, pre-war SS models, seven XK 120 sports cars (one of which is a rare alloy-bodied example), C-types, D-types, an XKSS, eight E-types, thirty classic Jaguar ‘Mark’-denoted sedans, and a trifling nineteen XJS models and over twenty XJ saloons. If the latter two sound a little unspectacular, it should be noted that many had famous owners in a previous life.

Jaguar Land Rover says the new collection will be "actively used to support brand and experiential marketing", and are sure to play a part in Jaguar's increasing focus on its heritage—so expect to see appearances by some of the cars at events like the Mille Miglia or Goodwood Festival of Speed. The cars will be absorbed into Jaguar Heritage, a branch of Special Operations—the brains behind the Jaguar Project 7 sports car.

Special Operations won't just work on brand new vehicles like the Project 7, but has also been tasked with building and re-building iconic classics, like the run of six, 1963 Lightweight E-Type racers. The attention to detail and engineering is such that the new cars will be separated by time alone from the originals--delayed production models, rather than recreations.

Discretion prevents Jaguar from revealing just how much it paid for the Hull collection, but James Hull himself is confident it's now in "safe hands". "Travelling all over the world to build the collection over the years has been a labor of love and a life’s work, so my primary motivation was not to get the maximum price but rather to secure the future of the collection in this country with the right custodian," he said.

It’s no secret that owning classic cars is more popular than ever but unfortunately this has pushed up prices, in some cases to astronomical levels. But you don’t have to be a multimillionaire to experience some of the best classics, even extremely rare ones, as Jaguar is offering its fans the opportunity to drive some of its oldest models through its new Jaguar Heritage Driving Experience program.

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The program launches next month and will be based at the Fen End test facility near Jaguar’s West Midlands headquarters in the U.K. Many of the vehicles in the collection will be driven by members of the public for the very first time, having been prepped for action following Jaguar’s recent purchase of over 500 classics from enthusiast James Hull. Among the cars are Le Mans-racing Jaguar D-Types, a number of E-Types and new models like the F-Type.

A variety of experiences will be available, from one-hour drives to half-day Le Mans race-themed events. Jaguar says some events will even include recognizable faces from the world of motorsport. Pricing starts at just £95 (approximately $152) rising to £2,000 ($3,215) for a full day of driving and hospitality services.

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The first people to sign up for the Jaguar Heritage Driving Experience program will also be invited to a guided viewing of the ‘Perfect Ten’ exhibition. This is a list of the 10 best classic Jags picked by some of the brand’s most notable fans, including Jaguar design chief Ian Callum; Lord March, host of the Goodwood Festival of Speed; and AC/DC front man Brian Johnson.

The Perfect 10

1) SS100: Jaguar’s first 100 mph production car.

2) XK120, registration NUB 120: Perhaps the most famous XK120 in the world. Driven by Ian Appleyard and Pat Lyons (daughter of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons) to numerous rally wins in the 1950s, including the Alpine Rallye des Alpes in 1950 and 1951.

3) C-Type, registration NDU 289: Original entry in the 1953 Mille Miglia, and one of just 54 cars built.

4) D-Type, registration 393 RW: This penultimate D-Type won the 12 hours race at Reims driven, by Hamilton and Bueb, and was sixth at Le Mans with the same driver pairing.

5) Mark 2: A great example of the legendary sporting sedan for which Jaguar has become globally renowned, and the genesis of the brand-new XE.

6) E-Type, registration 77 RW: The Jaguar ‘Works’ press car, famously driven overnight by Norman Dewis from the U.K. to Geneva for its auto show debut to great fanfare. This was the first production Jaguar to reach 150 mph, and is the earliest surviving E-Type Roadster.

7) XJ13: Only one example of this car was built, being the first Jaguar to use the V-12 engine. The XJ13 was built for—but never raced at—Le Mans, and was designed by Malcolm Sayer.

8) XJ6 S1: Car of the Year when launched in 1968, this particular XJ6 was Sir William Lyons’ personal car.

9) TWR XJS: Tom Walkinshaw was very successful in motorsport for Jaguar in the 1980s and returned Jaguar to the podium with the racing version of the legendary XJS winning the European Touring Car Championship.

10) XJR-9: Tom Walkinshaw won Le Mans in 1988 with this very car, in one of Jaguar’s seven victories in the famous endurance race.